“38 Years Old” was a fictionalized song about a real escape attempt at Milhaven Institution, a prison near the band’s hometown. Their songs mentioned hockey and areas Canadians knew and grew up in. For the first time since perhaps The Guess Who, there was a band that not only rocked the stage, but completely embraced Canadian life. In 1989, The Hip released their first album, Up to Here and it helped blow the doors wide open to their future success. Taking their name from a skit in Mike Nesmith’s film Elephant Parts, The Hip began to perform locally around the Kingston area, including stretches at local pubs on the Queen’s University campus before they would start to make it big. Langlois’s joining the band would be the last line up change until their final tour in 2017. Davis Manning left the band in 1986, the same year guitarist Paul Langlois joined. The Hip, as they are known by their fans, formed in roughly 1983 with the line up consisting of Gord Downie (lead singer), Rob Baker (guitar), Johnny Fay (drums), Davis Manning (saxophone), and Gord Sinclair (bass). W hile he was attending high school in Kingston at Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute, Gord would end up meeting the guys that would eventually form The Tragically Hip. Like most Canadian kids, Gord loved hockey but he loved music more. Gordon Edgar Downie was born on February 6, 1964, and grew up in the suburb of Kingston, Ontario called Amherstview. With this Gord Downie wiki, we’ll celebrate the life of this Canadian songwriter, as well as his career and Gord Downie’s cause of death. Since he was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor in 2016, we’ve known that our time with Gord was going to be cut short, and unfortunately that time ended last night as Gord passed away. The band's 2012 album, Now for Plan A, was lyrically influenced by Downie's wife and her overcoming breast cancer.ĭownie also produced three solo albums since 2001, as well as a collaboration with fellow Canadian indie darlings The Sadies.ĭownie is survived by his wife and four children.The name Gord Downie might not mean much to people outside of Canada but to the Great White North, he was one of the country’s most beloved musicians, along with his bandmates in the Tragically Hip. They have received numerous Canadian music awards, including 14 Juno awards, the equivalent of the Grammy in Canada. Nine of their albums have reached number one in Canada. Since then they have released 14 studio albums, two live albums, one EP and 54 singles. ![]() Their first self-titled EP was released in 1987 and their breakthrough debut full-length album, Up to Here, was released in 1989. While at university, he met Paul Langlois, Rob Baker, Gord Sinclair and Johnny Fray, and they formed The Tragically Hip, which started out as a cover band. Downie grew up loving rock musicīorn in Amherstview, Ontario, Downie said he "always had a keen ear for music" and while all the other kids were spending their allowance on baseball trading cards, he was buying records "from the fathers of rock 'n' roll". ![]() He said his "Secret Path" project was aimed at Canada's decades-long government policy of requiring aboriginal children to attend residential schools, where physical and sexual abuse was often rampant. ![]() "God knew this day was coming - his response was to spend his precious time as he always had - making music, making memories and expressing deep gratitude to his family and friends for a life well lived, often sealing it with a kiss … on the lips," the Downie family said in a statement.ĭuring his final show, Downie called out to Mr Trudeau, who attended the concert, to help fix problems in Canada's Aboriginal communities.Ī few months after that concert, Downie released a solo album with an accompanying graphic novel and animated film inspired by the tragedy of state-funded church schools that Canadian Aboriginal children were forced to attend from the 19th century until the 1970s. Downie later said that he needed six teleprompters during the concert series so he would not forget lyrics.īut through it all, Downie remained the consummate showman, rocking out on stage in distinctive leather suits.
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